THE KZ750. THE ULTIMATE TWIN
Not too long ago. the most prestigious bikes in the world were big displacement vertical Twins. They had style and an authoritative sound and ride all their own.

And not too, too long ago, Kawasaki began design work on what is today the ultimate vertical Twin. It has the same sound and great handling of the old bikes without any of the old problems. The KZ750 will cover a lot of ground before anything is required except an occasional tank of gas. There's a disc brake both front and rear, a five-speed transmission, electric starting, and plenty of torque and power thanks to a dual overhead-cam cylinder-head design.

The vertical twin

Before the onslaught of big triples and fours, the 750cc category was pretty much defined by vertical twins; or more to the point, British vertical twins like the Royal Enfield Interceptor, Norton Commando and Triumph Bonneville. Yamaha made some motion into the category with the Yamaha XS650 vertical twin in 1970, and even more so with the Yamaha TX750 three years later. But compared to its British rivals the XS650 was considered small, while the TX750 was a regrettable failure. By the end of 1975, there were really only two large vertical twins on the market, the 750cc Triumph Bonneville and the 650cc Yamaha XS650.

Looked at from this light, Kawasaki’s move made sense. While the days of Rule Britannia were over, there was still a sizeable community of riders who wanted a big twin. For that group, the new fours were too much. They had two too many cylinders, too many camshafts, too many carburetors and too many spark plugs. For these riders, the best bike wasn’t defined by quarter-mile performance, it was defined by ease of maintenance and dependability. And on that score, the KZ750 delivered.

Unlike Kawasaki’s last big twin, the BSA-clone W650, the KZ750 was thoroughly up-to-date. The 55 horsepower, 745cc twin had double overhead cams, shim and bucket valve adjustment, a Morse Hy-Vo primary drive chain and five forward gears. Vertical twins vibrate, so Kawasaki gave the 750 a pair of chain-driven counter balancers. It worked — mostly. Although smooth at low and moderate rpms, period testers faulted the twin for a distinct buzzing at anything over 4,000rpm, and feared it would shake itself apart at anything approaching its 7,750rpm redline: It wouldn’t, it just felt that way.

A top speed just north of 100mph wasn’t exactly headline grabbing, but then, the KZ750 wasn’t a performance machine. Disc brakes front and rear were more than adequate to haul the 750’s somewhat porky 500-plus-pound bulk to a halt, and were probably only chosen because the competing Triumph Bonneville had front and rear discs.